On his CNN show this morning, media analyst Howard Kurtz did two segments on John Kerry’s verbal gaffe. This is such an nonstory by now — Kerry made the misstatement six days ago — that there could only be one reason Kurtz, who is married to a Republican operative, would continue to flog at it: He was obviously and blatantly doing his best to keep the story alive two days before voting starts.

Some are suggesting that Kerry’s slip of the tongue will knock him out of contention for the Democratic nomination in 2008. Even though I’m convinced he does not believe the military is only for stupid and uneducated people — after all, he was a Yalie who volunteered to go to Vietnam — I would prefer that he shelve his presidential ambitions for good.

But the fact that Kurtz brought in two different sets of talking heads to discuss Kerry’s gaffe underscores the fundamental unfairness of the media’s coverage of Republicans and Democrats. After all, President Bush screws up public statements all the time — so frequently, in fact, that his screw-ups are routinely ignored by folks like Howie Kurtz and the Gang of 500 in the D.C. punditocracy.

I found this nice archive of Bushisms and have pulled a few of his less often repeated mangling of the language just for fun. Enjoy:

“I don’t give a goddamn, I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way. Stop throwing the Constitution in my face, It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”
- George W. Bush, 2005-11

“You fucking son of a bitch. I saw what you wrote. We’re not going to forget this.”
- President George W. Bush to writer Al Hunt, in front of his wife (television news anchor Judy Woodruff) and kids

“I’m the commander … see, I don’t need to explain … I do not need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don’t feel like I owe anybody an explanation.”
- George W. Bush

“The legislature’s job is to write laws; the executive branch’s job is to interpret law.”
- George W. Bush, abolishing the judicial branch, at least in his own mind

“Keep those motherfuckers away from me. If you can’t, I’ll find someone who can.”
- George W. Bush, 2004-07-08 to an aide backstage after refusing to answer reporters’ questions about his relationship with indicted Enron executive Kenneth J. Lay.

“I’m a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign policy matters with war on my mind.”
- George W. Bush, 2004-02-07 on Meet the Press with Tim Russert.

“I wish I wasn’t[sic] the war president. Who in the heck wants to be a war president? I don’t.”
- George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., 2004-08-06

“Some people have too much freedom.”
- George W. Bush

“We will export death and violence to the four corners of the earth in defense of this great nation.”
- George W. Bush

“Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.”
- George W. Bush, 2001-09-20

“In 1994, there were 67 schools in Texas that were rated exemplorary [sic] according to our own tests.”
- George W. Bush

“The question is, how many hands have I shaked.”
- George W. Bush

“What is [sic] your ambitions?”
- George W. Bush
speaking at the Parkview Arts and Science Magnet School Source: Federal News Service, Remarks by President George W. Bush at a Back-to-School Event, 2002-08-29

“The California crunch really is the result of not enough power to power the power of generating plants.”
- George W. Bush, 2000-09-15

“Will the highways on the Internet become more few?”
- George W. Bush

“And out of the evil done to America is going to come a more peaceful world, and a more better America…”
- George W. Bush

“That makes sense to me, don’t it?”
- George W. Bush, 2006-06-06 at the tail end of his speech about moving the National Guard to the Mexican border.

“Do you have blacks, too?”
- George W. Bush, speaking to Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

“Some communities, you say, ‘Hey, American dream,’ and they go, ‘What does that mean?’”
- George W. Bush

“Russia’s big and so is China.”
- George W. Bush, G-8 summit, 2006-07-17

“I refuse to negotiate with myself in public.”
- George W. Bush, 2004-12-20 dodging a question on social security.

“Laura and I will thank them from the bottom of my heart.”
- George W. Bush

“I understand small business growth. I was one.”
- George W. Bush

“And so, in my State of the … my State of the Union … or state … my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation … I asked Americans to give 4,000 years … 4,000 hours over the next … the rest of your life … of service to America.”
- George W. Bush, Bridgeport, CT, 2002-09-04

“I’ve made mistakes.. I haven’t done cocaine during the past seven, no twenty-five years.”
- George W. Bush

“I don’t want any kid doing what I tried to do 30 years ago, and I mean that. It doesn’t matter if it’s LSD, cocaine, pot, any of those things, because if I answer one, then there will be another one. And I just am not going to answer those questions. And it may cost me the election.”
- George W. Bush in the Wead tapes aired on Good Morning America

“Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.”
- George W. Bush

“Yes, if you heard the bombs falling, you’ll know that democracy is on the march in the Middle East.”
- President George W. Bush, on the White House lawn